I want people to get excited by and fall in love with God's Word.
One year Bible reading plans can be overwhelming and most people often give up after they fall behind for a few days.
This year, I encourage you to do two simple things. I did these in 2022 and getting into God's word on a daily basis made a huge difference in my attitude and my relationship with Christ.
What I've found to works best is getting up 15-20 minutes earlier than usual each day to start your day with this, but if evening works better for you, then do it in the evenings.
Here are the 2 things:
1. Read one chapter of the New Testament every day. That's it. That's your only commitment to daily Bible reading. If you want to read more, go ahead, but you are only committing to ONE chapter.
I don't follow a specific order of NT books with my reading. Whenever I finish one NT book, I go to the next one that comes to mind. If you'd prefer to read the NT books in order, do that. All that matters is that you're reading every day.
If you'd like some direction with where to start, here is where I generally recommend people start:
- Galatians
- Ephesians
- Philippians
- Colossians
- 1, 2 & 3 John
- 1 & 2 Thessalonians
- 1 & 2 Peter
- 1 & 2 Timothy
- John
and then whichever book interests you after that.
The reason I recommend the NT (New Testament) before getting into the OT (Old Testament) for people new to daily bible reading is because the NT gives guidance to the believer. After you've gotten familiar with the NT, start jumping into the OT. You'll love it, too! My favorites there include Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the minor prophets...actually, I could keep going, so just read them all!
I have a set of Mr. Pen no-bleed gel highlighters and as I read the chapter, I highlight any passage that jumps out at me, and I also use a pen to underline and write notes in the margins. Don't hesitate to write in and mark up your bible - it's your workbook for living the Christian life.
2. Do a daily scripture writing plan. There are hundreds of free daily scripture writing plans on the internet. Just search for '31 (or 28 or 30) day scripture writing plan' and then look at the images and choose the one with the topic that interests you for that month. Download the image to your phone or laptop, someplace where you can access it every day. You can even print it out and keep it in your notebook or bible.
Here is the plan I will be following in February 2023:
I found it by searching for "scripture writing plan February", choosing 'image' as the result, and then looked through the images to find a writing plan that appealed to me. Then I right-clicked on it and saved it to my laptop.
Buy yourself a special notebook and pen for this if you'd like. Something that makes you excited to do this. Here is my current notebook and bookmark and one of the pages:
That's it! Get started now, and have fun :)
